Beethoven - Overtures [Karajan-Berliner Philharmoniker]It's good to have a boxed set of the complete Beethoven Overtures in one package, in many ways these are like 'mini-symphonies', Beethoven in bite-sized packages, all the drama and excitement squashed into a 5 to 10 minute commercial.
And Karajan the 'Beethoven Symphony cycle man', made these recordings alongside the Symphonies, so these are shorn of their big brothers, it's good to have Karajan's take on these works, his is a serious approach, big bold Beethoven.
It's been over 20 years since Karajan died, time has really flown, but you can't get away from the phenomenal impact that this one Conductor had on the world of recorded Classical music.
Listening to this set, made me realize what gems Egmont & Coriolan really are, i especially like Coriolan [track 5, disc 1], starts with a series of forte blasts from the Brass, expertly using silence in between [0:00-0:22], the strings come in proper, but the forte blasts never stop, the strings play a sweeter episode, very noble [1:25+], but the undercurrent of darkness prevails, there's an inspirational passage where the strings are divided, low against high [2:46-4:05], the cellos chug the music along, while the strings carry the main tune, this for me is the best moment in the Overture, the sweet and noble strings episode returns twice [4:49+ & 6:37+], at the end the whole thing whimpers out, from forte brass blasts [7:31+], to string blasts, to finally soft pizzicato heartbeats [8:06-8:57], a lovely and novel way to end an Overture, that sounds like it was going to go out with a bang/blast!.
Here's Karajan conducting Coriolan on YouTube.
